One such insight in Genesis 1 was regarding the nature of light during Creation.  On day one, God 'let there be light' then on Day 4 God create the sun, moon and all the stars in the universe.  There was a day that I sat and thought about that light from Day 1.  What was it?  Is it still out there?  All I see now is the Sun mainly.  What do you think?  For me, after reading the rest of the Bible, I was able to understand that this light was God/of God.  Many times throughout scripture those that have come close to God have been 'illuminated' in some way.  Their face glowed or they had to shield their eyes.  God is Light in more ways that just knowledge.  He was able to illuminate the entirety of creation from Day 1-3 before a single sun anywhere burned in it's own nuclear fury.

~Jeff

One might assume that because angels live in heaven that they do not need to learn any more about God. But, if God is Infinite Love and Wisdom, you would think that the Creator would offer angels the ability to continue exercise their minds over the long haul of eternal existence.

Even we terrestrial beings of the planet earth would find it quite boring on this temporal plane if we could not learn something new each day.

Since the Lord God instructs through the Holy Word, and the Word existed prior to creation (John 1:1-3), we can assume that angels have access to the Word. However, do angels interpret its stories and narratives the same way we do?

The reason why I ask this silly question is that angels do not live in the physical world of time and space. Yet, all the stories in Scripture take place in time and space. How could they understand physical events when living in a non-material realm?

Mystic and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, suggested that angels interpret Scripture differently - by removing its stories from any involvement with time and space. How would they accomplish this theological feat?

Angels turn the literal sense of each word in Scripture to its psycho-spiritual equivalent. So, instead of seeing the Holy Word as a mere literal and historical account of things, they distill higher, spiritual meanings from its stories.

Angels do not interpret the seven-day Creation Story found in Genesis as an unfolding of physical events. They interpret this story as the seven steps that an individual’s heart and mind goes through in acquiring an “inner” paradise (epigenesis) from God.

Here is a brief overview of the Angelic take on the Creation Story:

LET THERE BE LIGHT - In the beginning, the human heart and mind starts off in spiritual darkness and in a complete void concerning God. God moves to enlighten us from this darkness (day one).

SEPARATING THE WATERS - Once God is recognized we can begin to separate spiritual knowledge from worldly knowledge (day two).

DRY LAND & PLANTS - By separating this information we can put our feet on firm ground, that is, on solid faith in God. From this faith grounded in the mind, new spiritual thoughts take root, grow, flower, fruit, and yield seeds (day three).

GREAT LUMIINARIES - Now humans have, from God, a faith that can serve as a beacon in times of darkness, and serve as a more powerful light when the warmth of love is added to faith (day four).

CREEPING THINGS - Our faith now becomes more animated by love, which is symbolized in the biblical story by animals that move (day five).

MAMMALS, MAN & WOMAN, DOMINION - Love increases and is exalted through the representation of warm-blooded animals appearing. True “humanness” now emerges onto the scene. God commands us through our faith to gain dominion over all the various qualities of thoughts and feelings that live in our hearts and minds. Our inner reality has now become a garden, where everything in it has been arranged according to God’s wisdom and order (day six).

REST - God’s work is finished (day seven).

So angels remove the aspects of time and space from the biblical narratives by interpreting them as symbolically addressing things taking place within the human heart and mind (which is a person’s spirit). These higher symbolic meanings allow angels to learn deeper concepts about faith throughout an eternity.

The Sacred Word would not be sacred unless it contained God’s Divine Holiness, which is infinite. Therefore, God’s Infinite nature can only be expressed in a Holy Document that contains deeper levels of meaning! 

The significance for each of us about all this is that since we humans are inwardly spirits, we too, have the capacity to interpret these higher meanings from the Holy Word.

In fact, this is one of the biggest secrets concerning the Second Coming. REVELATION is the Lord’s coming back to reveal these deeper things to us!

Are you ready?

I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

Un rapide tour sur le net à la recherche d'histoire de viols vous dressera un tableau indécent des perversions humaines, et une sorte d'humilité (ou de remords - c'est un comble !) de la part des victimes.
Le viol est souvent une affaire familiale, qui met des années à être enfin dévoilé. Qui est régulièrement (je n'irais pas jusqu'à dire "souvent", mais la question est ouverte) mal perçu et dont on demande à ce qu'il soit étouffé. Il n'est jamais oublié, et lorsque la victime en parle, il y a rarement une profonde antipathie à l'égard de l'agresseur. Du dégoût, du rejet, mais le "il", le "lui" qui caractérise celui qui agit préfère laisser son identité disparaitre, comme pour un souvenir désagréable qui devrait vite se perdre dans les tréfonds du cerveau...

Ces contraintes réalistes, je me les suis imposées, jouant aussi, cela va de soi, avec le verbe et le style. Ces quelques pages n'ont pas été jouissives - elles sont trop sobres pour cela, et par ailleurs autant la rédaction de meurtre dans une veine à la Ellroy peut m'exciter (avec le détail macabre bien placé ou la réplique qui fait mouche pour décrire la scène), autant un pareil sujet ne se prête pas à une débauche de morbide.
Ce serait à la fois inexact par rapport à la réalité de celles et ceux qui l'ont vécu, et surtout mal placé (pour ne pas dire franchement dégradant).

A lire sur fond de Jimi Hendrix, pour ceux qui ont ça en stock.

Ca se passe ici : brume violette

O my scarlet carnation,
your iron-fresh scent, and the torn,
spiked edges of your dying
outflesh for me the colors
of God's blood, God's body.

O my sharp clove,
your dark nail probes my hand.
You stud my open palm (a small, pink
Easter ham) with poignancy, pinning me to
your final clench of cross-pain.

O my asparagus—
with the cleansing sprinkle of your fern,
your up-greening from the ground,
your stalked asperity under the butter sauce—
awaken me to resurrection.

O my avocado,
your vegetable comfort calls my name.
Teach me the colors of growing. Within
your purpled leather rind disclose
your sumptuous spirit, your oil-hearted seed.

I've read a lot about all the people who are worried that CERN's upcoming activation of the Large Hadron Collider on Wednesday is going to either:

a) destroy the world,

b) open up the gate to hell, which will destroy the world, or

c) create a microblackhole, which will suck the Earth through it, which will (you guessed it) destroy the world.

Obviously, all this speculation has a common denominator:

that, according to Brian Cox, a professor at Manchester University, anyone who believes any of it is a 'twat.'

Which is awesome.  I'm so tired of ignorant people who claim that both sides of any argument need to be given some attention.  This is why the creation/evolution argument is still a debate; people want to be tolerant of other people's views/beliefs, whether those beliefs are inherently ignorant or not (they are).

Scientists get death threats over Large Hadron Collider - Telegraph.

At that time, God was not aware. God did not even know God's self. God was unending nothing, unending unawareness. But then, in a moment, that wasn't really a moment, but we can't possibly describe it any other way, God became aware, and in that moment the Unending Nothingness realized that it was Unending God.

But it's kind of boring to be the only thing there is, to have awareness but nothing to do, no one to interact with. But, alas there could be nothing else, nor anyone else, because God was all that Is. And then in the darkness of the abyss, God hatched a plan. God decided to create a Universe in which to interact with God's self as if it were many parts instead of just the One.

But there was a problem with that plan. God took up all the space that is, so there was no place to put a Universe, or anything else. But of course, God had an idea.

God scrunched God's self up into the teeniest, tiniest little space. Teeny, teeny, tiny, tiny. Scrunched all the way down to the size of an electron, to make space for the new Universe.

But there was another problem with the plan. There was nothing to make a Universe with, since all the something that existed was God. But of course, God knew what to do about that, too.

In an instant, that is perhaps the first time that we can call anything an instant, God exploded out in Unending Light, breaking into an infinite number of pieces to fill the space and create the Universe. Some people call this the Big Bang.

There is so much more to tell. About how the Stuff of God had to divide itself into different layers, to hold the different types of energy and matter apart from each other so that the whole thing wouldn't self destruct. Or about how the energy that binds it all still holds the consciousness that was awakened at that singularity when the unaware Unending became the self aware Unending God. Or about how over the billions of years that this Universe has been around, we have been evolving into Ourselves which are really Ourself.

There are some really hard parts to tell, too. Like how the destructive power of the Big Bang is the destructive power of Creation itself and how the balance of Good and Evil isn't as black and white as we think when we are children. The volcano destroys life and creates the richest soil for growing new life. Wars push human ingenuity farther than any other pursuit, such that greater advances can be made later in peace time.

And should we try to fix the bad parts if it is all part of the great path of the Universe? Should we go against the destructive nature of it so that we can stop the very growth of the Universe itself, if in fact these awful things do push us to grow?

Yes, of course we should, because destruction will happen whether we help it or hinder it. That was let loose in the very first boom of the Big Bang, and will continue until the Universe has reached its final balance point. But we can only connect to each other and up through the layers of brokenness to the All Encompassing God when we work on putting the pieces together.

In the Jewish tradition, this is called Tikkun Olam. Fixing the Universe. And it is interesting to note that the word Olam, in this language rich with mystical tradition, comes from a root which means to hide or to conceal.  The ancient rabbis taught that this is because God is hidden in the Universe, here everywhere, embedded in the very fabric of reality, but concealed.

Spore, the new game from Will Wright, however, does look oddly interesting.

"The game takes evolution as its broad theme and is the creation of famed developer Will Wright. Many believe it will change gaming just like his previous effort The Sims did."

It's probably a complete waste of time, but I'm intrigued enough to download the free Spore Creature Creator. Should be interesting... possibly...

Expect me back very soon with a not-very-impressed look on my face.

© 2008 Gary William Murning

Often when we are in a period of winter in our lives, it is hard to recall that this is the eternal cycle. So it is in our creative lives. A fallow spell seems to grip us, and we fear it will last forever. Like Demeter, we cry out and wander the earth, pale shadows of ourselves, waiting for Persephone to arrive with her burst of creative energy. We fight it, we become depressed, we belittle ourselves. But if we wait, and allow ourselves the rest that all natural cycles demand, life comes again to our creative selves. The moon waxes and wanes, seeds lie dormant and then sprout. Yeast lies in a jar, quiet, until the right mix creates fermentation, rising, new shape, and ultimately, sustenance.

This is my lesson right now. The gift of Soul Food is to be in a bi-hemispheric group. As the door slams shut suddenly on summer in Kansas--a precipitous drop from 96 to 58 degrees in 2 days--Heather notes that the first warm day of spring dawns. What a beautiful reminder of the turning of the wheel.

I am a creature of nature. I live according to these rhythms. Whatever dies is born again. What is lost, is transformed. Activity and rest. Light and shadow. Joy and sorrow. Production and introspection. I honor myself, my nature, and Demeter and Persephone as I relax and fall, trusting, into the arms of the eternal cycle.

presented by Karen Roberts

Enter Spore. This is a Will Wright game that has been in development since 2004 and that will release on September 7, 2008 in North America. Although I never really got into The Sims, I was a huge fan of Sim City. I tend to have a geeky/technical bent, but I also love to design and explore. Add that to my endless need for competition, and you can see why I tend to like these types of games. And, if I have been sufficiently convinced by the marketing hype, I think that Spore is going to be an amazing game.

So, what is Spore? It is like five games in one. (And it better be, since it took years to develop.) Here is a brief rundown of the five stages:

• You start off as a single-celled organism in a tidal pool.
• You cell emerges onto land as a creature.
• You creature forms bonds with other creatures and forms a tribe.
• Your tribe becomes modern and develops into a civilization.
• Your civilization launches into space, exploring other planets and galaxies.

Some people have criticized the game for promoting evolution. I think it does just the opposite. It requires a God (you) to actually create your creature. Without intervention, this random assortment of cells would have never formed into a complex creature.

What astounds me the most is the sheer size of the game. Once you reach the space stage, you can interact with the creations of other players on over 500,000 planets. That's insane! You can even browse the database of other creatures and their creations (vehicles, weapons, spaceships) and use them yourself.

If you want to get a free taste of spore, download the Creature Editor. It allows you to create and save creatures just like you would in the Creature phase of the game. It's fun!

I highly recommend you check out each of the videos below to see exactly how Spore will play out. As for me, I think I've already convinced myself to buy it when it comes out tomorrow.

Cell Phase

Creature Phase

Tribal Phase

Civilization Phase

Space Phase

Heather Henning with illustrations by Gillian Chapman 
ISBN 9781853454639 (185345463X) 
CWR, 2008 
£9.99

Category: Books for Children and Parents 
Reviewed by: Jeremy Kirby

A biblical exposition of Genesis 1 (“Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds", etc.) pitched at toddler level — this is great stuff! Have you ever wondered why God gave camels, pigs and elephants such odd noses? (shades of Job 39…). Or why frogs, deer and pandas have such different feet? This is where you will find some answers — accompanied by some striking illustrations that really do highlight some of the more curious animal attributes littering Creation. The four board books focus in turn on feet, noses, tails and coats. The texts are simple, to-the-point, two-liners ideal for reading to little children: "Mountain Sheep clings onto rocks with his hoofs. It's fun to climb!" (inspired by Habbakuk?) Or: "Hedgehog curls under the spiky coat God gave him. It's sleepy time!"

Granted, the books occasionally leave something to be desired in the realism department. Based at least on my trips to zoos, elephants, rhinos and hippos are not generally mauve coloured, nor are lions' manes scarlet. I find toddlers can be surprisingly perceptive in these matters. Mine wasn't too impressed by the pig either, which bears no resemblance to any pigs I or, apparently, he, have ever seen either in real-life or in books. The choice of illustrations also includes a few probably unfamiliar to toddlers reared on British children's literature (lemurs, anyone?).

These, however, are minor quibbles. The general impression of these board books is excellent. My two-and-a-half-year-old thinks the pictures are really cool (the pig notwithstanding) — and he actually seems to get the message: God really thought up all these crazy creatures, and that craziness sometimes has a purpose. All in all, these are child-friendly books embodying some pretty solid, contextualised theology — for my money, they're a winner.

Jeremy Kirby, September 2008

Jeremy Kirby teaches at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Siegen, Germany, and is a Distance Learning student on London School of Theology's MA course in Hermeneutics. He is married to Claudia and has two sons.

CWR

Order from www.christianbookshops.org

Authors | Blog | Categories | Publishers | Reviewers | Titles

All logos created by the team at FML Badges are free, but as you can imagine there is quite a waiting list! But by donating anything above £2.50 to the site your badge request will be pushed up the queue above all the freebie ones, not only do you get to wait less time, but you also get sent the PSD, which is very handy if you have Photoshop as you can tinker around with anything you dont like. Oh and they also will throw in a desktop background of whatever size you want (and the PSD) and aswell as that theyll even do you a kit for your team with whatever sponser you like and your teams badge on it (no PSD).

Je vous présente le studio de production Sparx. Ils sont français et travaillent avec les plus grands dans le domaine du cinéma et de la télévision!

C'est un studio de création français spécialisé dans l'animation 3D  vraiment incroyable.

Découvrez son univers au travers de différentes de ses créations :

Igor

Gazoon

Robota

Chasseur de dragons

Bonnes découvertes! ;-)

The emptiness stretches it's yawning whiteness before me and waits. I gaze into the nothingness and feel my hand reach out to it. I watch in silence as color spills from my fingertips. Droplets of pigment saturate the fog and penetrate the very pours of the fading abyss. My eyes sting and water as an ocean of color is stirred by the winds of creativity. The florid mist spatters my face, my arms, my legs and I am changed. I turn and walk away.

]]> http://frted.wordpress.com/?p=605 Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:14:48 +0000 Fr. Ted http://frted.wordpress.com/?p=605 If you would like to hear the Orthodox Christian Network interview podcast of Fr. Ted discussing the creation story in Genesis 1-3 and discussing his book QUESTIONING GOD  go to http://www.myocn.net/index.php/CRTL/

All manner of trees and plants grew every which way.  Wild animals wandered about the place.  Thorny flowers and poison ivy over ran it. 

The man first built a shelter.  The shelter became a house.  The house became a home that was almost a mansion.

The land near the home was cultivated.  Long, long rows of trees grew.  Fields of fruit were there.  And farm animals.  It became something of an estate.  It ran efficiently.  It was nearly perfect.  And so it was for some time.

But the man saw that it was missing something.  There was no one to enjoy the harvest with him.  There was no one to learn His ways... Really, what was the point of it all?  Just simply to perpetuate itself? 

And so The First Helpers came.  They lived in the man's mansion. 

Some of The First Helpers did not understand.  They were spoiled perhaps, because they had never known how things were before.  They thought that the man was unnecesary.  They did not see that his rules were what gave the place its beauty.  With a heavy heart, he cast out those among The First Helpers who would not submit.  They took up residence in the wastelands beyond the estate, in the wilderness beyond the farm.

The First Helpers who remained grew in harmony with the place.  It was almost as if they were a part of the place itself, so smoothly did they integrate themselves to the day-to-day running.  But there was a wall, an upper limit.  They loved each other, the old man and The First Helpers... but there was this limit on the communion they could enjoy together.  It was something about the fact that they had been brought into the mansion.  Somehow, they had become disconnected from the very ground that was underneath it.  Somehow, they failed to grasp that there was something larger than the four walls they lived in.  They listened carefully.  They learned from the man.  They took his word for it.  But they couldn't actually experience the truth themselves.  As wise, benevolent, and loyal as they were, in some way they were simply stunted.

And so the man hired a servant.  And the servant lived in the garden.  The man would come down from his mansion each day.  They would spend time together, the man and the servant. 

"This is your home."  The man said "Perhaps some day you will join me up on the hill.  But that is another day.  For now, I would like you to live here.  Lie in the cool shade of my trees.  Discover who you are, in this place."

What the man and the servant discovered is that the servant was lonely.  He was a social creature, the servant.  He would discover who we was only with the help of another servant to help define him, to help him understand himself.

And so the old man welcomed another servant.  He spoke to them both.

"Pluck my vegetables from the ground.  Pick my fruits from these trees.  Slaughter my animals when you are hungry.  Make this place your home.  Discover who you are: together.  But know this, too: This place was made by my two hands.  No one knows a thing like the one who built it.  And I did build this place.

You may feel that you could build a place like this.  I will tell you that you could not, but I fear that you will not take my word for it.  I love you.  But I also love this place that I have made.  If you will not work in harmony with this place I have made, then it could all be ruined.  So I will tell you this: there are rules here.   If we can not agree that my ways are the ways which make this place operate, then we endanger the very fabric of this estate.  And so I will set this rule before you: There is a tree which is mine, and mine alone.  There is only one tree, in the whole of this place, which you must leave alone."

Sefer Ha-Aggadah 1:2:73:

British director Jon Amiel (The Core) is currently in pre-production of Creation, a Charles Darwin biopic written by John Collee (Happy Feet). Darwin, who is of course best remembered as the man behind the concept of evolution, will be played by Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code) while Jennifer Connelly (Reservation Road) will portray his wife/cousin Emma. Interestingly, Bettany and Connelly also shtump in real life, however they're thankfully not related.

Like all biopics, this is one movie that can go both ways, as those films can just as easily be fascinating or well-made but dull. There is however considerable talent involved here, and a subject whose controversy is undeniable, but if all else fails we'll at least have the stunning Jennifer Connelly to look at for 90 minutes or so.

Creation (which was previously titled Origin) is expected to be released next year. In the meantime, you can next see Paul Bettany in the promising The Secret Life Of Bees starting October (trailer here) and wife Jennifer Connelly in the sci-fi remake The Day The Earth Stood Still this December.

Source